Brazil Whips USA 4 - 0

Brazil beat USA in the semifinal of the Women's World Cup 4 - 0 Thursday. Brazil scored 2 in the first half and Shannon Boxx received her second yellow card of the tournament in 1st half stoppage time. Playing with only 10 for the second half, USA gave up 2 more goals.

The American team will play Norway in the consolation game while Brazil will play Germany for the championship. Both games will be on Sunday

USA falls to 0 - 3 at Rugby World Cup

The American rugby team lost to Samoa 25 - 21 on Wednesday in France at the Rugby World Cup. With a record of 0 - 3 in pool play, the team will not be advancing to the next round.

USA will play its last game of the tournament against South Africa on Sunday.

USA Defeat England 3 - 0

Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx and Kristine Lilly scored one each to lead USA over England in the quarterfinal at the Women's World Cup in China. The USA next play Brazil on September 27.

Books

One new book:

Large, David Clay. Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936. New York: Norton and Company, 2007.

A thorough look at the 1936 games.


One good book from about 5 years ago:

Fisher, Donald. Lacrosse: A History of the Game. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

As the title describes, a history of lacrosse, emphasizing the cultural history of the game.

USA vs England in Quarterfinal

USA defeated Sweden 2 -0 and Nigeria 1 - 0 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup. USA and England play Saturday in Tianjin, China.

USA loses 25-15 to Tonga at Rugby World Cup

Tonga defeated USA 25 - 15 September 12 at the Rugby World Cup in France.

Rugby is the most popular sport in this small island nation of about 112,000 people, and its national team managed to defeat the team from a country of over 300 million people.

USA next plays Samoa Wednesday September 26.

Germany Opens Women's World Cup of Soccer With 11-0 Win

Germany beat Argentina 11-0 Monday in the first game of the Women's World Cup. The US is favored to win the tournament, but the returning champions established themselves as very formidable with the lopsided victory.

New 100 Meter World Record Set

Asafa Powell of Jamaica covered 100 meters in 9.74 seconds at the Reiti Grand Prix in Italy to set a new world record. He set the record in a heat, and won the final with a 9.78 time.

Powell recently finished third in the 100 at the World Championships in Osaka.

Fistball?

To those confused by the mention in a previous post by the mention of fistball(probably all of you), here is a good explanation of the game.

USA Plays Well in 28-10 Loss to England

Team USA lost 28-10 against defending Rugby World Cup champion England Saturday in France, but the outcome was not nearly as bad for the Americans as many expected.

New Zealand defeated Italy 76-14 while Australia beat Japan 91-3 on Saturday. Some expected England also to have an easy day. Instead, The game was much closer, causing the English press to deliver a strong rebuke to the team. The Daily Mail had this to say: "The defending world champions were so appallingly poor that the South Africa team who watched the game from their team hotel could have cracked a few ribs, such would have been the extent of their laughter."

Women's Soccer World Cup

Team USA is favored to win the women's World Cup which opens Monday in China. USA plays in a group with North Korea, Nigeria and Sweden.

England vs USA at Rugby World Cup

Defending Rugby World Cup champions England play USA Saturday, September 8 to open this year's Rugby World Cup for both teams. France, host to the cup this year, lost in the opener to Argentina on Friday.

Austria, USA Win World Titles

Austria defeated Brazil to win this year's Fistball World Championship. Host Germany defeated Switzerland for third place, giving German-speaking nations 3 of the top 4 spots. The USA finished 11th of 12 teams.

Team USA beat host Japan 23-20 in overtime to win the World Championship put on by the International Federation of American Football. This was the third international championship contested; the first two were won by Japan. The American team competed in the tournament for the first time and gained its first title.